Choir of the Day – well one of them! We are very pleased to announce we were named as one of five “Choirs of the Day” in the Adult Choir class at the first Area Selection of the BBC Choir of the Year competition held in Basingstoke on Sunday 2nd March.
Choir of the Day – well one of them!
It was a contest of a very high standard and wide variety of musical styles. There were 12 competitors in total, and the two judges Tim Sutton and Stuart Barr had the discretion to name any number of “Choirs of the Day”. In addition to Surrey Harmony, they named Reading Phoenix Choir, Signature, Impromptu, and Huntingdon Male Voice Choir. Our Director Jenny Lawson was presented with a certificate in acknowledgement of our achievement.
Likened by one of the judges to the famous Tiller Girls, we performed our competition package for the extremely supportive audience at Basingstoke’s Anvil Theatre.
There was a great atmosphere with each of the choirs warmly applauded by their rivals. There will now be Area Selection competitions in Coventry, Edinburgh, Sheffield and Cardiff before the Choir of the Year judges decide which groups will go forward to the National Selection Stage in June. A team of adjudicators will listen to recordings made of the choirs at the Area Selections and choose six choirs in each of the four categories to go through to Category Finals.
Twenty-four choirs will compete in the Category Finals at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool on 8-9 November 2008 to pick six choirs to go through to the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year Grand Final, to be held at the Royal Festival Hall, London on 7 December 2008.
Download the full programme from the day.